Guess what we did yesterday. This weekend there seemed to be markets all over Brittany so we decided to visit the two closest which took approx 1 hour depending on traffic and how well the Satnav directs me!!As I seem to take a large selection of pictures on my travels I have put together an album so that I can have less pictures on my blog. Not sure how it will work. The album is on the blog to be viewed as a slide show or if you would like to see bigger pics please visit:
http://picasaweb.google.com/mischkacat/TravelsInBrittany?feat=directlink
I hope this will work, if not please let me know and I will have to find another link.
To tempt you to look I have a picture of parrot tulips. I drove past the most exquisite house which I just had to photograph and turned to get back into the car and spotted the pot of tulips. It is one of the most amazing things about Brittany and presumably elsewhere in France that each town has extensive displays of spring flowers. They are in the centre of traffic islands, hung in baskets along railings, planted along the side of the road and anywhere there is a space there seem to be flowers.
Our first stop yesterday was at Auray, quite close to the coast (still have not seen the sea!). It was in an open area and yesterday was quite cold and cloudy. Felt quite sorry for the exhibitors as they all looked pretty miserable and I don't think business was very good. Once again a wide range of goodies for sale, lots of second hand clothing and general junk, a few antique items and some very lovely old pieces of furniture. I am amazed at what people think they can sell as one lady had a bag of plastic forks on the table! Prices are high for some of the stuff and presumably they have to load it all up and take it home until the next show. I collect Ethiopian crosses and saw a couple of one of the tables. Stopping to have a look, the stallholder started chatting to me and to my delight spoke perfect English. He had some interesting things for sale besides the crosses, tiny silver rings which are apparently used as currency. I did manage to resist temptation.
Our next stop was at Kervignac and this show was in a hall. Once again lots of the sort of stuff that I have been quite recently giving away. Amongst the sale items I was distressed to see two mounted foxes as well as a small ermine type creature. Although beautifully preserved and extremely lifelike, I prefer my animals alive thank you!
Found a card of vintage mother of pearl buttons and pieces of lace but little else of any interest but then I suppose it depends on what you are looking for. One man's junk as the saying goes..................
Today was Monday market for fresh veggie shopping, a few items from the supermarket and then a vacuum and wash for my car. This is a coin feed self service system. First I had to vacuum all the bits of stuff left from the firewood I have been carrying in my precious new car. Then a good wash and polish and as the day turned out warm and sunny, it was not too bad. Getting sprayed with soapy water in mid winter is not fun at all.
One of the pleasures of living in France is the wide range of breads available. I have got used to seeing people riding bicycles with long baguettes either in a basket on the front or stuck in a rucksack. The variety of bread is amazing and it is old fashioned crusty bread, had quite forgotten just how good it is.
We have been invaded by ants. Not the dainty little black ants I had battles with in Cape Town. These French ants are bigger and seem to live in the thick walls of this house! So the ant spray is out, poison or not.
This week need to get back to bears and start working for the June show in Stratford. I also need to do some beading for our Etsy store. Started working on a beaded star from a pattern which I purchased recently. Either I am a really dumb blonde or the instructions are just not very clear. Made two sections of star following the instructions which read one row black and one row white but the stripes do not lie in the same direction as the picture of the completed star. Quite a few hours of wasted work as I had to take it all apart and start again, this time using my own initiative. Some patterns are just not very clearly written and perhaps should have more illustrations. Hopefully will have a pretty star to put on my blog within the next few days.
God not only sends special angels into our lives, but sometimes He even sends them back again if we forget to take notes the first time! ~Quoted in The Angels' Little Instruction Book by Eileen Elias Freeman, 1994
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